Spying in Numpton Once every quarter we have some sort of ‘offsite’ which usually involved some fun and games and a few hours of ‘meetings’ to justify the whole thing. The latest one was a day at Spy Games just outside Northampton, known affectionately by the locals as ‘Numpton’. Playing with gadgets, guns and driving cars in mad ways had to be worth even going to Northampton for. Oh and “J Turns” are a hoot especially in a old Volvo 740.

Izzy the Blogger The dog has a blog....no honest!

I've lost my iPod Mini Well sort of. Karen has decided she rather likes it and wants to use the iPod when she goes running. Of course this means my collection of guitar based popular combo hits has been deleted for music more oriented to the terpsichorean muse. As a consequence I’m on the lookout for a repleacement. I could of course just get another one but the market for portable media players has moved on there might be some useful alternatives worth considering. The larger iPods seem an obvious choice but for me they don’t carry the appeal of their smaller cousin and the kudos they once had is long gone. As long ago as six months ago the iPod Mini has the whole micro hard drive music player market to itself but there’s now some good looking alternatives which address the Mini’s 'Achilles Heel'; battery life. The Rio Carbon, Creative Zen Micro and the new and probable favourite Creative Neeon are all worth a look.

The invasion continues... I'm beginning to see more familiar faces at MS Towers almost everyday and yes there’s a new addition to the home for ex Lotus types. This time it’s Mr David Parry-Jones who’s decided to join me, Trevor, Jono, Steve B, Neil J and Neil C, Mark, Tim and Jane down Reading way. We’ll out number the locals soon.

Holidays are never long enough are they?

Just spend a week in Sardinia catching some rays, relaxing and attending a friends wedding. Not a place I'd ever consider for a holiday but it's a fantastic place. The sun shined all week and the beaches are white, sandy and empty. The food was brilliant, amazing fish and pizzas and the Limoncello and Mirto were as alcoholic as they sound. Great lsland and a little of the tourist track, so good in fact we are planning a return trip.

IBM, or should that be Lenovo, release a Tablet... ...PC that is and it looks a cracker. Based on how generally well put together Thinkpads are this should be a great machine.